Letter to the editor: Job choice should not have to be based on health insurance

I’m writing in support of affordable health care, not just for my family, but for everyone in the state of Maine, because health care coverage should not be a privilege for a small percentage of the population in America.

I’ve worked for large and small companies in Maine, and prefer the entrepreneurial environment of a smaller, privately owned workplace. I shouldn’t have to choose where I work based on the need for affordable insurance.

When I worked for larger, high-stress corporations in the past, I had more illness than I have now. I’m fulfilled and productive working for a small business, yet rather than staying with a job that better fits my work style, I may be faced with the need to move to a job that provides my family with affordable coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

The ACA has provided the opportunity for people to do work that better fit their skills. I would think the economy benefits when its workers are doing what they love in a workplace that supports innovation and creativity the way small-business environments do.

For a period of time, I was not working, without insurance for my family which was frightening at best. The emotional and financial stress of not having coverage, and paying monthly premiums equivalent to the cost of a mortgage is enough to cause serious illness.

Everyone says the cost of health care in America is the highest in the world, and we have worse medical outcomes than in any developed country. Could it be in part because we are the only developed country where people have to worry about what will happen financially if they end up in the hospital, or where people are in a constant state of anxiety over not getting good health care? I believe so.

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